Introduction
Back For You is a hidden-gem Chinese Republican-era drama told with unusual story telling, comprises of ten short stories coming out of comic books, some quirky, some dark, some melancholy, bound seamlessly across time in search for a hero that all start with a lighter.
Drama Info
Drama title: Back for You (Native title: 漫影寻踪 )
Genres: Historical, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller, Romance
Aired: Feb 4, 2025 - Feb 8, 2025
Episodes: 12 | Duration: 45 minutes
Director: Ma Jia Ying ( 马嘉莹 )
Screenwriter: Lin Lin ( 林琳 ), Wei Si Yuan ( 魏思远 )
Where to watch: iQiyi
OST:
Opening Song "A Match Made in Heaven" ( 天生一对 ) by Ma Yin Yin ( 马吟吟 ) feat. James Lee ( 李铢衔James )
Ending Song: "Remains" ( 遗迹 ) by James Lee ( 李铢衔James )
Insert Song: "Remains" ( 遗迹 ) by Wang An Yu ( 王安宇 )
Trailer:
Synopsis
In the early years of the Republic of China, A Lai, a police officer in the Concession, was hunted down by a vicious gang. When his life was hanging by a thread, he was rescued by a mysterious woman, Lu Na, who appeared out of thin air. Lu Na was seriously injured and fell into a coma. A Lai investigated Lu Na’s identity but found no such person.
A Lai used the ten comic books Lu Na carried with her to tell her stories, hoping to awaken his savior. Unexpectedly, every story is related to the cases A Lai has handled and can even guide him in finding the key to solving the case. A Lai looked forward to Lu Na waking up more and more. He was promoted and received a salary increase because of his merits in solving the case, but he also unknowingly made enemies.
A Lai discovered Lu Na’s secret through clues. When one of the comics was read, Lu Na woke up. The two fell in love with each other, and A Lai’s enemies are also ready to take action. In the end, with the help of Lu Na, A Lai regained his peace and simplicity and his original intention of being a police officer. (Source: MyDramaList)
Characters
Main Characters
Wang An Yu ( 王安宇 ) as A Lai
Angela Baby ( 杨颖 ) as Lu Na/Yang Man Ru
Supporting Characters
The supporting characters’ order is based on their episodic appearances. The supporting characters for each episode are the main characters of each comic book.
Ten Comic Books
These are the the ten comic books Lu Na created with brief summary and episode breakdown. Some comic books contains introductory messages.
Book 1: Street Corner Stories (Episode 1)
Police officer Xu Lai (A Lai) goes undercover to crack down illegal crude opium gang activities.
Book 2: A Visitor From the Book (Episode 2)
Novelist Zu Dan is visited by a mysterious woman who demands him to change her fate.
Message: “Have you ever imagine that one day the characters in your book will stand in front of you?”
Book 3: The So-called Test (Episode 3)
The blood-phobic doctor Ah Ming is forced to perform a surgery.
Message: “Things that can’t kill you will eventually make you stronger.”
Book 4: Romantic Night (Episode 4)
Doctor Chun Ying believes that her fiancee Jia Hua who’s missing for 10 years is still alive.
Message: “Danger lurks in darkness. Maybe behind every one is a pair of eyes watching them.”
Book 5: Out-of-Body Experience (Episode 5)
Yuan Shan believes the pocket watch used for hypnotic therapy has a superpower to teleport him.
Message: “Maybe some people with superpowers aim not to change the world but only to protect someone.”
Book 6: Yesterday Can Be Chased (Episode 6)
The unlucky A Feng gets a reincarnation to change his life.
Message: “If you get a second chance in life, would you do things differently?”
Book 7: Nostalgia for Old Times (Episode 7)
Through parallel universe, young baker Li Li finds out what happened to her lover master baker Bai Lang in the past.
Message: “If time brought me to you, can you be returned to me now?”
Book 8: The Double (Episode 8-9)
Actress Liu Meng hires her look-alike Xiao Ru to be her double.
Book 9: Buddy Hotel (Episode 9-11)
Hotel staff Da Bing believes that his father Li Qi is a psycho serial killer.
Book 10: Make a Wish (Episode 11-12)
Simple delivery boy Ma Ke wishes to see the world. There is also the last case.
Message: “All fear is the projection of your inner self.”
Four Dimensions
At some moments, audiences may get confused with the timelines, especially since the editing is messy due to the censorship and there is no info on the screen about the timeline. I identify there are four dimensions in this drama and it helps with the understanding of each mini story as well as the main plot.
Dimension 1
The current drama time line which is year 1946. Only in Episodes 1 and 12. Lu Na is a comic artist who created ten comic books as a tribute to Xu Lai/A Lai, a police officer who saves her when she was a child. Her comic books are liked by the publishing house owner and later her comic books become famous.
Dimension 2
The past drama time line which is year 1926 for the entire episodes. Lu Na time travels 20 years back to the past and saves A Lai. She is severely wounded and fell into a coma. Meanwhile A Lai visits her at the hospital and reads her comic books which stories are based on the current cases. Lu Na wakes up in Episode 9 and helps A Lai with the cases.
Dimension 3
The stories in Lu Na’s comic books that come alive during Lu Na’s time travelling in 1926. This is not what actually happens since they are dramatize and romanticize. Not in Dimension 2 since in that dimension A Lai just comes in nick of times to catch the culprits and wrap up the cases.
Dimension 4
The real cases that happened in 1926. There are some snippets here and there how what actually happened in the cases are not as told in Lu Na’s comic books. Sometimes the facts bring some humor into this dark drama.
I will give you an example in spoiler tag
In Episode 1/comic book 1, Lu Na depicted A Lai kills a gangster leader and heroically walks away (Dimension 3). In reality, two men carry a heavy casket that slips, falls onto the gangster leader and kills him (Dimension 4).
Review
Is It A Time Travel Drama or A Mere Dream?
Because this is a Chinese drama, to pass the review, the plot has to avoid any supernatural and fantasy setting, including time travel. As indicates by the ending of the final episode, it seems like the whole drama we watch is a dream experienced by Lu Na. Or is it not? Somehow, the script is able to ‘deceive’ the NRTA reviewers with several subplots emphasizing that anything supernatural such as superpower, fictious character comes alive, teleporting, reincarnation, parallel world, are merely imagination. The script is able to deviate from the magic of the comic books and the Venus-Moon conjunction phenomenon to a logical explanation of an earthquake and a coma. However, there are traces that indicates that something mystical happens that Lu Na is able transfer from Dimension 1 to 2 and back to 1. I will explain more when I talk about the ending of the drama in the last section: Spoilers.
Many Genres in One
Besides the obvious genres of historical and fantasy as stated in the synopsis, this drama also has sprinkles of crime, mystery, thriller, action, comedy, romance, and drama in it. I wrote “sprinkles” because the subplots are short and cannot explore deeply on a certain genre.
- Crime: the contest of wills between the lawman hero and the outlaw opponent, and their differing views of morality and the aspects of society they represent. For example: Comic Book 1 between A Lai and the gang leader.
- Mystery: the unraveling of truths in every crime cases
- Thriller: in subplots with fights against the gangster and bad guys there are feelings of suspense, anxiety, and anticipation in the audience.
- Action: there are some cases with fights, chases, and explosions
- Comedy: the comedy in this drama is mostly satire with some gloomy or disturbing elements, for example Comic Book 5
- Romance: despite the dark elements in the drama (including toxic relationships), there are pure and sweet romance here and there, for example Book 4
- Drama: some heartbroken and tragic moments with emotional impacts, for example Book 8
The Gangsters, The Psychos, and the Greedy
Because of the crime element and the Male Lead who is a police officer in the Shanghai French Concession during Chinese Republican Era, the criminals are usually gangsters and crude opium smugglers, people with mental disorders, and the greedy and selfish people. The variety of characters keep the drama interesting without repetitive topic or draggy moments. Although each case requires the same police procedural of collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses, or interrogating suspects there is always some plot twists.
The Actors Who Delivered Despite Short Durations
Surprisingly, the supporting actors and actresses who are the main characters of each story delivered their excellent acting despite their limited time to show off their skills. Especially the ones who played challenging roles that require micro facial expression showing negative emotions.
Visualy Appealing
Because of the dark theme (noir) with focus on solving criminal cases, this drama implements the dark and light cinematography that utilizes stark contrasts between areas of deep shadow and bright light within a scene, creating a dramatic visual effect by highlighting the interplay between the two elements.
The dark elements do not overshadow the stylishness of Shanghai French Concession (1926) time setting, the set is full of French-style architecture, schools, cafes, and stores with fashionable costumes, accessories, and makeup.
Besides the usual visualization of a drama with cinematography, costume, accessories, makeup, and sets, the comic books drawing in this drama is also rich and vivid in colors. The comic books have retro vibe. I like it so much that I put the drawing as the article feature image as a tribute to the artists who drew them.
The Ending
Because it’s a Chinese drama, which the ending may be unsatisfactory to maintain the realistic expectation dictates by the censorship, you’re probably curious with the ending. My spoilers below for the endings of Dimension 1 (1946) and Dimension 2 (1926)
Dimension 2 (1926)
Surrounded by fire around the warehouse, wounded A Lai says goodbye to Lu Na. She frantically tries to light up the lighter that can teleport them to 1946 era. Just before a huge block fall on top of them the lighter lights up. Therefore, they’re both teleported.
Dimension 1 (1946)
Lu Na wakes up in 1946 and asks the nurse if anyone else came with her. No body. It seems there is an earthquake (as seen in Episode 1) and light pole fell onto her and she was in a coma. Logically, she dreamed everything in the drama. However, when she checks back the last case, she reads that A Lai is missing in the fire (not dead). Where is he?
Later she gets a call that the President of the Publishing House would like to meet her during book signing. Voila, after the event she meets him, the A Lai look-alike. He also plays around with a lighter, although without “A Lai” name engraves on it. When she says that the word “A Lai” is missing on the lighter, the handsome president promises he will engrave it on the lighter.
The ending scene showing that he shyly inching towards Lu Na while she doesn’t object showing they are likely attracted to each other. See the image below.
My theory that A Lai teleport to 1946, no longer remember he is A Lai and becomes the President of the Publishing House.
This drama satisfy the NRTA reviewers to pass the censorship, as well as fan-service: open ending with a positive tone.
Conclusion
Back For You is truly underrated and under-the radar. The unusual storytelling of several subplots that do not connect one to another may not in the liking for watchers who prefer straightshot drama with one continuous storyline from beginning to the end. However, its uniqueness makes Back For You interesting and worth trying.
